whole, it was a grand and happy conception, in the midst of this
tremendous war, to make its gigantic fiscal necessities contribute to
the permanent uniformity of the currency and of the domestic exchanges.
For this great measure is no temporary expedient. Its success is bound
up with the stability of the Government; and if this endures, the good
effects of the new system will be felt and appreciated in future years,
long after the unhappy convulsion which gave it birth shall have passed
away. It will serve to smooth the path from horrid war to peace, and to
hasten the return of national prosperity; and when experience shall have
fully perfected its organization, it may well be expected, by the
generality of its operation and its great momentum, to act as the great
natural regulator of enterprise and business in our country.

If these grand achievements in finance have had so important an
influence in sustaining the war for the Union, it is not likely they
will fail to constitute a large element in controlling the political
events of the immediate future. Their author is well known to entertain
the soundest views in reference to the thoroughness of the measures
necessary to restore harmony in the Union, without being of that extreme
and impracticable school whose policy would render union uncertain or
impossible; and if a ripe experience in public affairs and the most
brilliant success in transactions of great delicacy and difficulty, as
well as of the most vital importance to the triumph of our arms, are of
any value, they cannot be without their due and proper weight in the
crisis which is fast approaching.

The election of next fall will take place under circumstances dangerous
to the stability of our institutions, and trying to the virtue and
wisdom of the American people. We are compelled to undergo that great
trial, either in the midst of a mighty civil war, or in the confusion